An Additional 4.7 Million Americans Could Afford a Home Under Lee's HOUSES Act
An Additional 4.7 Million Americans Could Afford a Home Under Lee's HOUSES Act
WASHINGTON—Today, Joint Economic Committee Republicans released a report evaluating the impact of the HOUSES Act on the nation's housing shortage.
The report finds that the new legislation, introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and cosponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Mitt Romney (R-UT), would allow an additional 4.7 million Americans to afford the average home in their state by giving state and local governments the right to purchase parcels of federal land for housing development.
The report estimates that 2.7 million houses would be built under the HOUSES Act, by freeing up just one tenth of one percent of federal land for housing development.
The median home price in the U.S. has increased by 30 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and prices are growing fastest in Western states, where more than 50 percent of the land is owned by the federal government. JEC Republicans estimate that the U.S. is facing a housing shortage of 20.1 million homes due to land use restrictions that constrain the supply of new housing.
The 2.7 million new homes built due to the HOUSES Act would alleviate 14 percent of the nation's housing shortage, making home ownership more affordable and more attainable for American families.
The Joint Economic Committee is Congress's bicameral economic research center and home of the Social Capital Project, led by Ranking Member Mike Lee.
